A Taiwanese girl who is now living in Montreal writes about what she discovered and experienced in this amazing city.

01 February, 2012

The diversity of the diet culture

When I went to a super market for the first time, I was shocked to see the chicken packed in saran wrap. The skin of the chicken breast or thigh was completely taken off, and it looked like a new born rat. Indeed, the size and the shape was almost the same and reminded me about an article I read about genetically modified food: a chicken with six legs. Of course it's not true, is it? The store was even selling rabbit meat, likewise the skin taken off as well. Don't blame me, you do think that some Asian food is gross, don't you? I feel the differing opinions about food of Canadians and Taiwanese is interesting.

Most Montrealers only eat meat once headless, tailless, with no feet and completely skinned. Some of my friends explained me the reason why they dislike to see the whole body of the chicken. They are not sure they would be able to eat it if they could see their eyes. They would feel guilty and think the chicken is accusing them.

As opposed to Montrealers, if there was a cooked chicken without a complete body, a Taiwanese would think that there is something missing because they always wish for everything to have a good start (the head) and a good end (the tail).

Mmm... delicious!

See what I found in super market in Chinatown. Can somebody tell me how to cook it?